Tag Archives: photo

This is another little secret that I wanted to write about in my Goodwill Hunting post, but it was already getting too long.  I’m talking about picture frames, which are some of my favorite things to find at GW.  I have dreams of hallways like this in my house (courtesy of my idols at younghouselove.com):

I lovvvvve it – I think it’s because I feel like photos and other important things that make you smile shouldn’t be tucked away in a dusty photo album, or in some forgotten folder on your hard drive.  But, frames aren’t a super cheap thing to buy, especially in quantities sufficient to satisfy my crazy frame obsession.  

Enter: Goodwill. Yep, shocking I know. Another post about something Goodwill related. I swear they aren’t paying me (but THAT would be awesome…I am looking for a job…wink wink). But, they usually dedicate at least one aisle to various picture frames with nothing inherently wrong with them except, perhaps, an awkward print or unfortunate 80’s-esque warm oak stain. Ick. Not my style.

Luckily, they are really inexpensive, and so is spray paint. So, on any given trip to GW, this is normally what I come home with:

Ah, there’s the oak I was referring to.  As you can see, you can find a variety of shapes and sizes, and they usually range between $1-$3 a piece. The glass alone is probably worth that much, so you’re already winning (annnnd here’s the obligatory Charlie Sheen reference…poor guy).

I use these all over the house, but recently I’ve been recruiting frames for my attempt at a frame wall. This is our upstairs hallway a few months ago, and those are all previously-80’s-oak Goodwill frames, spray painted white:

Ok, I’ll admit it.  The artwork is shoddy at best.  All the pieces of “art” are things I literally printed at home over the course of 30 minutes in a desperate attempt to decorate before a party.  Now, it’s starting to fill up a little more. I’ve added some Target frames (which I already had and were already white), and stuck some of our engagement pictures in the mix to break up the more artsy stuff:

Hey, there’s the tree print that was kicked out of our bathroom after the bathroom shelf (dubbed the “Violin Shelf” after much debate) was completed! Here’s the other side of the window:

And, lest (not a word you get to use everyday) anyone think that only (K)atie is getting love around the door, here’s Bryan’s (B):

I know, adorable. Anyways, the plan is to keep expanding on that mix of pictures/art until the wall is covered.  Slowly but surely it’ll get done.

I think my favorite GW frame project to date has been using a few cheap-o frames to decorate the wall above our bed:

Borrrrrring. So, I found a few matching frames for under $5 and painted them white.  I didn’t take a ton of pictures before (it was pre-blog), but here’s a shot of the back of one of the frames, to give you an idea of what color they were when I bought them:

They were actually a pretty dark wood color, but they wouldn’t have matched anything else in our room so they got a coat of satin white spray paint after a light sanding (just to help the paint stick a little better).  Here’s one all painted and ready to go:

These even came with mats, which was a bonus.  I had two 8x10s and one 5×7 all ready to go, but through my own carelessness I had a rough finish on the 5×7 (let’s just say, don’t try to spray paint while your fiance is sanding something 3 feet away). So, I was thinking that the simple solution would just involve sanding that frame down, giving it another quick coat, and being done with it.  However, as I did that, some of the pretty dark wood underneath started to show through:

And surprisingly, I actually liked the distressed look better than the polished look. So, I sanded the other frames to match:

This was super easy since the frame had natural high and low points…the higher points started to show the dark wood, while the lower points remained white. After a quick sanding, I popped in a few of our engagement pictures and hung them above the bed. 

I’m really not great at hanging things and having them turn out anywhere close to level, so I was pretty happy with this.  It’s probably not perfectly centered, but oh well! Embrace the imperfection.

Sorry about the reflections! Haven’t quite figured out iPhone photography for blogging I guess it’s just a testament to my glass-cleaning skills…it’s so clean and shiny! (that is definitely a reference to this Ellen Degeneres stand-up special…the link should be cued to the right part of her act, but the entire thing is hilarious if you ever have a chance to watch it).

xox, katie